‘Deep frying’ graphene could help us develop longer lasting batteries

Graphene has long been touted as the miracle material, with scientists promising us all the wondrous things it could help us accomplish. One of those things is better batteries, and a new process could help that happen.

Scientists in South Korea have created a highly conductive, stable electrode by spraying droplets of graphene into a hot blend of acid and organic solvent, a process that’s being referred to as ‘deep-frying’ the graphene.

The ‘pom-poms’ created by this process aren’t as tasty as a bag of chips, but they do come with an open 3D structure that makes them a lot better at transferring electrical charges than regular graphene. This wouldn’t be the first time science has managed to create 3D graphene, but this method is a lot more suited to mass production because of it’s simplicity and the ease in which it can done in large batches.

It’s going to be a while before we see graphene batteries hitting our gadgets, but the good news is that progress is being made so it’s going to happen someday.

Tom Pritchard